The silo that fills itself

Even in one of Germany's largest flour mills, Frießinger Mühle, digitalized production cannot be ignored. That level measurement values in particular are of great value for optimal deliveries and stock levels is proven by the radar sensors VEGAPULS 6X in conjunction with the VEGA Inventory System software. 

With an annual production of 400,000 tons of flour and with 23,000 tons of storage capacity, flexibility must be one of the core competencies in the daily operations of Frießinger Mühle in Bad Wimpfen. As much as 1,200 tons of grain are brought in daily by truck and ship, while the same amount of ready-to-use flour products also leaves the mill. 

"Our goal," says Willi Erich Frießinger, who is preparing to lead the family business as the sixth generation, "is to provide our customers with varieties that are precisely tailored to them. In a quality they can rely on." He experiences that his profession is changing. "The demands are getting higher and higher: be healthy, taste perfect, practically packaged. But above all, the quality must be reliable and consistent."

Variety of requirements

In addition to classic flours, the millers and craftsmen at Frießinger make many special products. Pizza, pasta or waffle flour, as well as bread baking mixes. All differ not only in composition, but also in that they are adapted to customers' baking processes. "We can only meet this variety of requirements if we automate our delivery and storage processes." 

The VEGA Inventory System guarantees constant availability and punctual delivery to customers. The complex delivery and storage processes are controlled from a central control room. On several PC monitors here, diagrams in traffic light colors show in real time exactly what stock each silo has. A distinction is made not only between the individual grain types and the batches being stored, coming in and going out at a given time. The speed of filling and emptying can also be monitored via a graphic progress indicator: this is useful for optimizing the processes in terms of time.

Live at fill

Plant manager Klaus Hecht and his colleagues can use VEGA's Inventory System to monitor live on their screens which raw materials are currently entering production or which silos are being filled. If necessary, they can also immediately find out which of the silos has enough free capacity for an out-of-order delivery. "In this way, we achieve greater diversification of our supply sources and can react quickly to short-term increases in demand for individual commodities," explains Hecht. 

He is also very satisfied with the service in his daily work. "We are pleased," he adds, "that VEGA does not offer the system in an off-the-shelf standard form, but assists us with service in the event of individual questions about expansion." This ensures the required reliability 24 hours a day for the flour producer in Bad Wimpfen. "The service technicians from VEGA even answer questions on weekends."

Reliable look into the future 

The plant's tall storage silos are equipped with radar sensors of the type VEGAPULS 6X. The VEGA Inventory System makes material planning based on available level data efficient and easy. The data collected does not just look at the past. Based on the consumption progression diagram, the software calculates a reliable forecast for the volumes needed in the future. 

More than half of the measuring points at Frießinger Mühle are already connected to the VEGA Inventory System. With a dynamic web map, the system could also be linked to suppliers' or customers' container locations to automatically trigger orders or exports. Frießinger: "That is future music." 

However, he does see other significant advantages. "The path taken by the measurement data from our silos to our process control system can be several hundred meters. Because we planned our newest production building directly in conjunction with the VEGA Inventory System, we can transfer the data here web-based. That saved us a lot of meters of cable during construction." 

Thoroughly examine the challenges

For Frießinger Mühle, it is a daily challenge to order the right quantity of very specific grains at the right time. This assumes that all related factors, such as current purchase price trends, inventory costs, current contracts and also demand forecasts are known. Admittedly, managers know their customers and order dynamics better than anyone else. But taking into account the huge mass of data with all the associated factors is a gigantic task. To achieve that, meanwhile, everything revolves around automated inventory monitoring with the VEGA Inventory System.